When I wrote my last blog post, See You Next Year, in November of 2024, I had every intention of returning to this blog soon after the Times Square Ball dropped at midnight on January 1st. However, 2025 shaped up to be a… rather interesting year, and one where I made a few realizations about myself and my reading in the recent past.
1.) I was incredibly burnt out with reading new releases / having to write reviews before release date.
I think it became abundantly clear that I couldn’t keep up with the number of books I requested / was approved for / was sent on NetGalley, and the few (but very much appreciated) physical arcs I won through giveaways / acquired through other means. I always planned to be able to read and review every early release I received, but once something got in the way, it started a chain reaction, and in my mind no one cared about my thoughts about a book that came out six months ago. Realistically, I know that isn’t true, and that even if only a few people ever click on that review it’s because they specifically want to know my thoughts, no matter how long after it’s been out in the world. Even with books I was able to read before release, whenever I sat down to write my review no words would ever come, and I felt that if I couldn’t coherently put down my thoughts the post didn’t deserve to be published. This constant back and forth inside my brain just left me incredibly burnt out and without any drive to post anything, which in turn left me feeling like a failure.
2.) I put way too much pressure on myself.
I recently moved at the end of 2024 into a new apartment, away from most of my family for the first time in my life, and that definitely took a fairly large adjustment period. I have a full time job, which became understaffed when my coworker left (I cheered her on, but also felt a huge loss) and I spent months feeling overworked and underappreciated until they hired another person to help. I got a promotion that while yes, did come with a more substantial paycheck, resulted in much more responsibility and a further feeling of inadequacy (even though I’d been told by everyone else that I was doing a great job). With each passing week of me not opening up this website on my laptop, I began to doubt myself more and more, question why I had even considered myself a “reviewer” in the past if it was so easy for me to stop, and force words out on the page that never saw the light of day because I didn’t think they were worth reading.
3.) I fell a bit out of love with reading.
Reading has always been my escape. Whenever I feel stressed or overwhelmed, it’s easy for me to turn to my Kindle app or a physical book on my shelf and forget about my problems, even if just for a little while. But when it came to the amount of stress I was feeling this past year, I found myself shying away from that outlet and, when I wasn’t just falling asleep immediately due to exhaustion, I would instead watch an hour long video essay on YouTube or figure out the next custom diamond painting I wanted to make. I still managed to read over 100 books in 2025, but my recent consistent goal of striving to finish 120 books (at least 10 a month) was not achieved. If I hadn’t seen the writing on the wall early enough in the year and adjusted that goal accordingly, I know it would’ve been another slice to add to my list of seemingly never-ending pie of stressors. While I did find some incredible new favorites, and generally enjoyed what I was reading, there’s some innate feeling that my year in books could’ve been better, if I hadn’t hesitated to fall back on reading when times got tough.
I am, in no way, saying I’m not grateful for any books I may have received early in 2025, or that it was the worst reading year I’ve ever had. All I am trying to articulate is that last year, I was struggling to find much motivation to return to something I thought I’d really enjoyed, which was writing for this blog. Talking through some of my feelings here, and with a specialist late in December, has really helped me pinpoint how I can push past the cloud that’s been hovering over me for the past year or so. I’m coming back to this space and giving myself grace for all the time I’ve missed. I truly do love the book community, and while sometimes I wish we could approach certain topics with nuance, I am genuinely excited to get back to sharing my thoughts about… well… things. Moving forward I have a list of ways to allow myself the freedom of sharing my thoughts without constraining me too much, to the point where I run and hide for another year.
1.) I’m staying off NetGalley (for the most part) – there are a few books that the publisher’s marketing team reached out specifically, given the books I’ve reviewed highly in the past, so I may read and review those, but otherwise I don’t think I’ll be requesting anything specific on NetGalley. I love the site, and need to catch up on my still pending reviews, but I think I’ll stay off for at least the first few months of 2026.
2.) I’ll review every 2026 release I read – I won’t give myself the task of reviewing them before release, especially if I don’t have an early copy or I hear about the book a while after it’s been out, but I do want to share my thoughts about relatively new books out in the world, good or bad, because I think that’s helpful information for other readers in the community to know.
3.) I’ll allow myself the freedom of different types of posts – in considering coming back to this blog, I thought about what I wanted to write, and while new release reviews are definitely on the table there are other things I might want to throw in as well, such as author spotlights, five star backlist reviews, and maybe even reviews of book-to-media adaptations such as Heartstopper, Heated Rivalry, and others that are coming out in 2026 like People We Meet on Vacation. Maybe I’ll even throw in some stat updates at the end of every month / quarter, to see how my reader has (or hasn’t) changed. Sure, I might decide that I don’t want to wander into those abysses, but I’m keeping my options open, and giving myself the space to at least draft the posts if I want to.
I can’t guarantee that 2026 will be a better year or that I’ll definitely stick around. I don’t know what the future holds for me, or if things at work or in my life are going to improve, get worse, or alter any other way. I can say that I am going to make an effort and try to be present as much as I can here in this space, and honestly that’s more than I could’ve said just last week.
So hi, my name is Krista, and this is my blog Thoughts About Things, where I write my thoughts about [primarily] books, and I’ve been away for a while. But hopefully I’m here to stay in 2026, and I hope you’ll stick around to see what I have in store.
Thoughts About Things 